A great authentic way for children to learn about budgeting – give them a budget for their birthday party or other special event. It is truly amazing to watch what happens when children have a budget to work with. Not only is this great math practice, but whining ends, creativity increases, and kids end up having pride and ownership over their own special day. Win Win!
An authentic and quick way to reinforce percentages with your kids. Have them figure out the tip at restaurants.
Children often want certain items at the grocery store (ok make that usually/always). If treats are in the family budget, younger children can be given a number of items that they can pick (one is absolutely fine and appropriate). If a package of treats is purchased, they can be counted, and agreed to be consumed one day at a time, or shared with family members (again counted to make sure there are enough). Older children can be given a monetary amount that they can spend. And even with young children it is never too early to explain what a budget is, and what can and can not be included in the family budget – another authentic way to reinforce math concepts.
Estimation is often a tricky concept for kids to grasp. Estimating what the total will be at the grocery store is a great authentic way to reinforce this concept. Kids can start with estimating at $2.00 per item. (This is also great practice for younger children to count by twos.) This can be refined to adding more dollars for more expensive items and eventually rounding up or down to the nearest dollar.
*My grandmother taught me to do this using $0.50 per item…I guess we can teach inflation using this activity also!
Young children can learn and practice counting by counting items as they go into the shopping cart. Simple and quick, and an invaluable authentic counting practice.
It’s the authentic experience in reading, writing, and math (really in all academic disciplines) that truly make a difference in what a child will not only learn, but internalize and use. Exposure in isolation does not have the same impact as the authentic experience. Drilling for hours doesn’t come close to the impact of the quick but authentic hit.
When ordering pizza – use fractions to discuss the slices and how many pieces everyone ate. I ate 1/2 while you ate 1/3. If I ate 1/2 of a small pizza and you ate 1/3 of an extra-large pizza, did I eat more? If I ate 1/2 of a pizza and you ate 4/8 of the same pizza, who ate more? Lots of authentic ways to teach fractions.
You can also teach the early vocabulary of fractions with young children. When discussing ordering a pizza you can use words like whole, half, and quarter. “Half” the pizza with cheese, and “Half” with pineapple and ham (my favorite). Hmmm…gotta go order pizza for lunch now!
Whether it is over to the next town to visit relatives, or a vacation involving hotels and restaurants, children of all ages should be involved in the planning of, and preparation for travel.
Children can and should read about destinations before they get there. Younger children can watch videos. This is not only great authentic reading (or pre-reading) practice, it allows children to have expectations and ownership for the trip. Not only does this increase reading skills and knowledge, but improves behavior.
Looking at pictures of grandma and her cane can lead to conversations about how grandma can’t chase young children around her house. Books about the ocean lead to increased knowledge about our oceans, and the required rules to enjoy them safely.
Depending on the age and abilities of your children, they can also be involved in researching and planning a trip. One of the most interesting and fun hotels I stayed in was found by my ten-year-old daughter, researching a place to stay overnight on our way home from a gymnastics meet. (She also knew what my budget was and found a hotel within this range – authentic math practice.)
All children can and should help pack for a trip. Packing lists can be made by parents to be followed by children (pictures work for pre-readers). Not only are lists reading practice (and writing for an older child who can write the list as well) but teach children that there is preparation, organization, and planning for travel. Older children can do most of the packing themselves with some supervision. For teenagers, that’s another story, just be happy if they pack for the right season. (Pick your battles here!)
Ingredients for an Authentic Learning Experience:
Ownership
Early foundation
Real-world application
Deliberate incorporation of student interest
Openness to the unplanned learning opportunity
Integration of content
Active learning
Valuing student inquiry
Learning from failure
Engagement
From One School’s Journey by Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor (coming Fall 2018)
One School’s Journey tells the story of an elementary school in Maryland, in the suburbs near Washington, D.C. The school’s student population is extremely diverse, with students representing many races, socio-economics levels, and academic abilities. The path towards the use of authentic projects to teach and reach this diverse population is chronicled by the two authors – Eleanor K. Smith (me), a teacher, and Margaret Pastor, the building principal.
While offering procedure, guidance, and examples, this is not a book of lesson plans. Our bias is that for true authentic teaching you cannot follow someone else’s lesson plans. Authentic projects come from the heart and are adapted to meet the needs and interests of the students.
This book tells the story of the journey of the staff at our elementary school, as we set down the path to discover how to engage our students. What was not a surprise, was that when children are engaged, they learn. And authentic projects engage the learner. Our hope is that the reader will find inspiration from what we discovered along the way.
This is a new twist on an old travel game. For years parents have entertained children on long car rides by having them look for and check off a license plate from all 50 states. As many kids now have access to on line information through phones and tablets, you can add the task of looking up and naming the capital of the state, population, etc. Authentic Math Bonus: additional points for each plate can be added based on larger population, geographical location, etc. The more you add, the busier the kids are, and the more reading they are doing.
The Educational Journey 